Today brings about the end of that famed period of false security officially known as reading week. (Yes, Stephen, I know you have no reading week, but I'll say it again, you're a doctor, the regular rules don't apply to you :P ) It has also shown a total disconnect between parts of me, as all the carefully mapped plans I had to catch up and get ahead were left by the wayside. There is a little part inside me that now probably understands what the mother of a large family feels like; on a smaller scale, of course. (I say in an attempt to ward off the imminent biting off of my head that I foresee as soon as Angela sees this :P ) Hopefully I can take this as a lesson and a stepping-stone and begin pursuing a path towards greater discipline.
I gave some thought during this week also to the current state of music, brought about by Bob Marley. I wonder, if Bob Marley were an up and coming artist today, would he be as successful as he was in the 70s? I would hope so, but I can't be too sure in a day and age where 50 cent is hugely successful. The fact that Marley is popular today is a good sign, of course.
I wonder if there will ever be a day when they start selling copies of Marley's "Africa Unite" and use the proceeds to arm the fighting tribes in Africa, in the same way Tommy Hilfiger or any other designer makes millions of dollars by stamping Che Guevera's face on T-shirts; the same way people pay and accept bribes using banknotes with Gandhi's face stamped on them. Which leads me to think what these people would say if they saw themselves being exploited to promote the very same things they fought against. Surely that indignity is worse than death; and surely suffering that indignity after death is the most humiliating of all.
Under the current projections, the population of Africa promises to wipe itself out in 100 years. It seemed a slightly far-fetched concept to me until I saw 'Hotel Rwanda' which, for all its Hollywood glitter, showed some naked truths, like how a call to the French army got the rebel fighters to retreat in a matter of minutes. I wonder sometimes how it is possible to have such disrespect for human life; for the humiliation of Guevera and Gandhi and the killing of people you do not know rank on the same scale of disrespect for humans, the only difference being specific vs. generalised. It is one thing, of course, for a creature like Paul Bernardo to have no respect shown towards him (Or is it? Does one give up the right to respect at any time? Bernardo disrespected his victims, but do two wrongs make a right?)
A rather depressing note to end reading week. Who knew the imminent return to Unviersity would trigger such emotions?